Letter-holder.



(Nd Ruder.)

Patented my 3|, labo.

IF. PERGANDE. LETTER HOLDER.

(Application mad Aug. 1'4, 1899.)

@Moewig UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK PERGANDE, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN;

LETTER- HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent.' No. 654,ees,datea July 31, 1900. Appleman inea .lingua 14, 1899. Y sean Nt. 727.114. uio moan.)

To a/Z whom, it may concern.:

Be it known'that I, FRANK PERGANDE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Milwaukee, in thecounty of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Holders;' and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, landexact description thereof.'

My inventionrelates especially to devices for holding any desired number of letters in one compact' bundle which can be thrown about, as in a post-oiice or railway postal car,

or transferred frombne to another mail bag or receptacle, without liability or danger of the package becoming undone andwhich at` the same time can be almost instantly undone and again secured with a greater or less number of letters held thereby, if desired, and which can be reused indeiinitely and to th ese ends it consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts, as will be f ully set forth hereinafter and subsequently claimed. In the drawings, Figure lis a plan view representing a bundle of letters secured by my device, one end of the latter being shown as partially unfastened. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the inner side of my device ready for use.

In post-oces and postal cars itis customary when letters have been assorted into different bundles, each bundle for some particular destination or distributing-ofice, to separately tie up each bundle with twine or cord, and

then when said bundle has to next be undone, as in the further assortment of said letters or the addition of others thereto or subtraction o f certainletters therefrom-at the next dis tributing-point, the twine or cord is simply cut and thrown away and the bundle retied with fresh twine or cord, all this consuming considerable time in the wrapping and tying of the twine or cord as well as involving the waste of that formerly used, millions of balls of cord being thus used every year in the railf,

way postal service alone. To obviate this waste of time and material and at the same time to provide a device which is adapted to secure any numberof letters from one or two up to, say, several hundred is the principal object of my present invention.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the upper letter of a bundle containing any num- .ber of letters within the limit of my device irrespective of the size and shape of the envelops of said letters.

. VB O represent two straps, preferably of leather, said straps being herein shown as of unequal length, inasmuch as most envelops `are of considerably-greater length horizontally than vertically, although this difference in length between the two straps is immaterial, as the thickness of the bundle of letters in any given case may compensate for the difference in horizontal and vertical length of ordinary envelops j ust referred to. These two straps are centrally crossed and permanently united at this central point, as by a rivet D, as shown, with the four ends which extend from said central point entirely free from all connection or attachment. The end b of strap B and the end c of strap C are each provided with sockets d d, adapted to receive balls e e,

secured to the ends b' c of said straps, the

heads of said sockets being shown at d d in Fig. l and the lower or underside fasteningplates of said balls being shown at e cf in Fig. 2, the said parts c e and d d forming what are known as ball-and-socket fasteners, such as are in common use on gloves and other articles of wearing-apparel, and these devices `are secured to the strap ends at exactly equal distances apart in each series, as shown.

The operation of my device will be readily understood from the foregoing description of its construction, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. NVhen the bundle of4 letters A is made up, the said bundle is placed upon my device, the latter being then in the fully-opened position shown in Fig. 2 and with the greater length of said bundle preferably in line with the strap O. The end c of said strap is then brought up along the center ofthe right-hand end of said bundle and along the top of the bundle and the end cof said strap C brought up along the center of the left-hand end of the bundle and over the end c' on top of the bundle and pressed down, so that the balls e e, then on top of the said strap end c', will be received within the sockets d, then on the under side of the strap end c, saidV strap ends projecting as far over the top of the bundle ordownpast the ends thereof as is necessary, owing to the thicki ness of the bundle and the length of the strap IOO the strap B is brought up alongthe center-of the lower edge of said bundle and acrossfthe top thereof, (and down over the upper edge of the bundle, if necessary,) so that the balls e e on said strap end b' are uppermost, and

finally the other strap end b is brought up lalong the center of the upper edge of 'said bundle land across the top thereof over the end b (and down over the lower edge ofthe bundle,.if the said end b projects to such al length `asto render this `necessary)andfthenf` I,

said strap end b is pressed down upon the strap end b', so that the balls e onthe latterA will be received within the sockets d, now 'on the under side'ofy the former, and the opera# tion of securing the bundle is completed, this a Whole action requiring onlya few secondsl of time. ing the kname of the destination or next dis- Y tributing-point of'said bundle, and ordinarily; this is placed atv one end on-top ofthe `upper letter of the bundle and held beneath the lockedends ofthe strap C, although iff there` are only two-or three letters in the lbundle said slip or tag may be placed 'between said"y ends cc ofV the strap and locked by {onel of.

, the ballspassingthroughsaid slipfor tag before it-enters its socket.

tached thereby, and 'said devices will lastfor years Without their efficiency becoming in the least degreeimpaired. y

Thedescribedfstraps, while of cou-rse iexifv ble, so-y as to readily bend around the bundle V of letters, are klongitudinally unyieldingfan'd`- hence there is no danger of anyo'f the letters-n escaping from the bundle when theA lstrapl ends have been fastened as described, and there isnothing about said straps and Vlastening devices to catch in or injure other letters or mail-matter inthe use of my device;

Itiis of coursel essential that my straps; shouldbe of non-fracturable inaterialandlobe'V Y entirely freez'fromnletal plates, hooks,fb'uc.

kles, and similar devices, as the same wouldi be liable in the-tossing about to which bun` dlesoi! letters are subjected in railway orV4 other post-oftices to injure other mail-matter, audit is further essential thatthe described interlocking devices 'on the ,opposed endssof each' strap should be equal in number and"` atequal distances apart on each strap end'in order to aiord secure engagement andguardl against loose ends. Further, by having the described two independentV straps centrally crossing eachother, so thatthe two straps occupy'difterent planes, the increased thicknessof eachstrap, consequent uponthe `atldition ofthedescribed lfastening devices, is

E represents the usual `slip or` tag giv' The bundle-can be undone as quicklyas it`was seeured'andl asrapidly resecured, andvyet when the strap ends have been lock'ed,asdescribed, the bundle can be thrown about and'into its proper receptacle asffreely as if it had been-tied withtwine er1-cord in the'old way withoutthe y leastidanger of. the strap endsbecoming de" e54,ees

compensated for and thefsaid straps secured togetherthroughout :practically the entire length. of their voverlapping portions.A

Whilemy device is especially designed for lholding together letters in a bundle', it is apparent that it -is equally ecient for the securing together of other' articles or small packages.- i i 'v vHaving thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- ,j e

1;A1holder forsabundle of letters, ,or v`similar package,eonsis ting of twonon-fracturable flexible and longitudinallynunyielding straps, 'crossed at right angles to each other, and secured together at that point, ythe opposed free 'ends' of each strap beingprovided with series of interlockin g devices forjadj ustable attachment,` the locking devicesonone end-of each strapV being equal ingnumber to thoseonthe otherxend' ol'saidl strap,fand located-at 'equal -vdi'stancesfapart, whereby when thel two yends onf/'peach strap are'brought ktogether the said I@mds-will be'locked togetherin close contact throughout Vpractically'rv their entire length, andthe said -opposed ends of eachstrapV will always lie in differentv planes, oneuabove the other, and be capable of Vinstant separation, `Without -ir`1j ury, and be then-ready: for reuse as required;

holder fora 'bundle of lette-rs or-sim'i-v lar package, consisting; of two f* dexible but longitudinally ufnyielding straps centrally crossed and there united by a central rivet, leaving two opposedv freeends of each strap, one ofsaid endsof-each strapbei'ngr provided `witha series of" sockets placedlat equal dis- `'each strap being provided with a series of balls, also placedat corresponding equa'ldis- 'tancesapartg andfadapted for ready finterlocking with said sockets, the-'free ends of 4each strap beingof equal length, but the two straps themselves being )tunequal length. f 3.; `A holder for a bundle of letters, vorsimi larfp'ack'lage, consisting off two independent non-fracturable flexible Y and longitudinally- `unyieldi'ngzstrapsn crossed at rightangles to each other and there-united, so as-to extend in different planes, together'with 'series ofinfterlockable'devi'ces, secured` to saidstraps at equal distances apart,and extendingbetw'een lthecentral pointV ofunion of saidstra-psfand lthe free endsthereof,wherebysaid straps may be secured `together Vthroughout practically ,the-'entire length ofv'their` overlapping por- Itonsg a j v 4In testimony that Il claimL the foregoing I ghave hereunto set my hand atMilwaukee, in 1the county of Milwaukee andvState VV-iscon` Qsin, in the presence oftwo witnesses.

' VFRANK PEReANDE.`

Witnesses:

tancesvapart, and the other of said endsoi IIO 

